


Couples Retreat

by reeby10



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, M/M, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Undercover as Married, Undercover as a Couple, Up all night to get Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 09:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2104380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We’re pretending to be married, man,” he said. “To scope out this couples therapy retreat to find the freaking Winter Soldier. I think that counts as undercover.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Couples Retreat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hangsondoong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hangsondoong/gifts).



> I volunteered as a pinch hitter for the [Marvel POC Characters Fanworks Exchange](http://marvel-poc.livejournal.com/) and ended up choosing Sam/Steve and fake/pretend relationship from my giftee's like list. I had a lot of fun with it, so I hope they like it!
> 
> Thanks to [yaoisakka](http://archiveofourown.org/users/yaoisakka) for the plot help and beta.

“I did say I don’t have any undercover experience, right?” Sam asked, tugging at the sleeve of his suit as they readied to exit the car. He wouldn’t say he was nervous, exactly, but well, he was nervous.

“It’s not _really_ undercover,” Steve hedged.

Sam rolled his eyes. “We’re pretending to be married, man,” he said. “To scope out this couples therapy retreat to find the freaking Winter Soldier. I think that counts as undercover.”

Steve gave that crooked little smile that Sam tried really hard not to find adorable. “Gotta learn someday, I guess,” he replied. “No time like the present!”

“No time like the present, my ass,” Sam muttered, but Steve was already pulling the door open and heading toward the entrance to the retreat. “This is going to be just _fantastic_.” With a sigh, Sam locked the door and followed his pretend husband. 

They had received some news a few days before that the Winter Soldier-- who turned out to be Steve’s best friend Bucky, and hadn’t that just thrown everything for a loop-- was hiding out in the deep woods of Pennsylvania. Steve thought the intel was plausible as Bucky’s grandparents had lived down there back in the ‘40s and Bucky might be trying to reconnect with some aspects of his past.

It turned out that the area they were looking for was now a couples therapy retreat, tucked deep in the woods so that the sometimes volatile couples would have space and peace to vent and work through their issues. Sam thought it was a pretty great idea as far as therapy environments went, but he wasn’t so happy to be going there himself.

Especially when he had to play house with Steve and convince everyone there that they had major relationship issues.

The problem, despite what he’d told Steve, wasn’t the undercover bit. He was reasonably sure he could get through that. It was the pretending to be married to Steve bit. Because although they’d only met about six weeks before, Sam was reasonably sure he was in love with Steve.

And that, that was a problem. Steve was… well, Steve. It was pretty much unfair for anyone to be in love with him because he was such a perfect specimen of humankind, the dictionary definition of unattainable.

Sam was interrupted from his thoughts by their arrival at the main office building, a small log cabin style building with large, airy windows and some rather disgustingly cute pictures of happy couples on the walls inside.

An older woman with short, curly brown hair sat at the single desk, the light from her computer monitor shining cheerfully off of her glasses. She looked up as they stepped up to the desk, a few feet of space between them. They were supposed to be having relationship trouble, after all, so they were trying hard not to look too chummy.

“Checking in?” she asked. They nodded, and she smiled at them. “Names?”

“Roger Stevens and Thomas Wilson,” Steve answered, giving her the aliases Natasha had helped them secure before leaving DC. He smiled at her as he said it, one of his trademark polite smiles that made Sam want to roll his eyes but also kiss him breathless. It was a strange mix of feelings.

“Alright,” she replied, quickly typing into her computer. It only a took a moment until the printer behind her was spitting out papers, and she turned to grab them. “These are your schedules for the week, including both couples and one on one therapy, group activities, and meals. You won’t be expected for anything today except dinner since you’ve just arrived, but I’m sure your neighbors would love to start getting to know you!”

She handed them each a stack of papers and a tag on a keychain. “This is your key to your room,” she told them, smiling as they both immediately began flipping through the schedules. “My name is Mrs. Briggs if you need anything!”

\---

Their “room” turned out to be a small cabin at the edge of the guest housing area. It was really quite nice, airy and comfortable with plenty of amenities. It was also close to the woods and far from the main retreat area, so there would be plenty of opportunity for them to sneak away for recon. It was pretty much the perfect spot.

They spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and checking the area around their cabin. They met their neighbors, a couple in their thirties who seemed to thrive on one upping each other at all times, and another couple where each other them seemed more interested in trying to hook up with Steve than each other.

The next day was much the same, meeting couples with various relationship problems, but they also had to participate in therapy and activities. For Sam, the therapy was the hardest part because he had to convince the counselor he was married to Steve and was having problems with their relationship. There really couldn’t be anything further from the truth, on either account. So of course all the other couples were convinced it was Sam that was the problem in their relationship.

And apparently “he’s too good looking” wasn’t a very believable answer. Even if it was totally true.

The other couples all being quite taken with Steve actually turned out to be a good thing for their mission. Everyone wanted to talk to Steve, and they were more than happy to tell him whatever news about the retreat and rumors about the area that they knew. Sam took the opportunity to explore the retreat on foot, claiming he needed some space for his own thoughts.

By the end of the day, neither one of them had found out much of anything. From what they could tell, there had been absolutely nothing out of the ordinary around the retreat for the last few weeks.

“What now?” Sam asked, stretching out on the couch.

Steve hummed for a moment, frowning. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “I thought the info was good but…”

“Yeah,” Sam said. “There’s gotta be something we’re missing. It’d probably be easier if we weren’t distracted with all these couples activities.”

“Playing husbands sure isn’t what I expected to be doing in the future,” Steve said. “And if it’s all the same, I think I’d rather not do it again.”

Sam tried not to wince at that, wishing the words didn’t hurt him as much as they did. Steve didn’t mean anything by them, he was sure, but there was still that deep down hope that Steve might look at Sam the way Sam looked at him.

“Uh, yeah,” Sam muttered. There was a moment of silence, probably only awkward to Sam, who was suddenly wishing he was anywhere else. “I’m gonna head to bed,” he finally said. He stood up and heading toward the other room, studiously not looking at Steve.

“Sam?” Steve asked. He sounded so concerned that Sam almost stopped and spilled his guts. Almost. “Did I… say something wrong?”

Sam laughed, a short, chocked of sort of sound. “No, man, it’s nothing.”

He’d just made it to the bedroom when suddenly Steve was right there, hand blocking him from opening the door. “Wha-” he started to ask, but was cut off by a pair of lips pressing insistently against his own.

He froze for just a second before he was kissing back. It was good, so much better than he’d ever imagined late at night, but he was still confused. He’d thought Steve had no interest in him like that, and no matter how he might feel, he would have respected that.

They broke apart, gasping for breath, and Sam looked up at Steve, confused even more by the happiness that was evident in the other man’s face. “I thought you didn’t wanna play husbands with me,” he said, trying not to sound reproachful.

“I just meant I didn’t want to play.”

Sam gaped at him for a second, then surged forward, groaning into the kiss. Steve returned it with equal ferocity, making Sam’s head spin. “This is,” he panted out as they broke apart a few moments later, “I mean, you do?”

Steve pulled back just enough to look him straight in the face. “Really, Sam?” he asked, incredulous. “Natasha’s been teasing me about it since that day we showed up at your place.”

“Really?” Sam asked, jaw nearly dropping. It _had_ been kind of awkward that day and Natasha kept looking at him funny, but he’d figured that was because he didn’t really know Steve very well and the two of them were wanted fugitives. That was enough to make anything awkward.

“Yeah. According to her I go all puppy dog eyed whenever you’re around.”

“You do have some pretty impressive puppy dog eyes,” Sam teased, leaning forward to kiss Steve again. “I gotta say, they’re pretty irresistible.”

“Irresistible, huh?” Steve said, letting out a husky laugh.

“Yeah,” Sam breathed out, leaning in to kiss Steve more deeply as he pressed their bodies together. They both groaned at the friction, not enough, but so good. “Good thing I don’t have to resist anymore.”

\---

The next morning, Sam woke up to the sun shining through the bedroom window and a warm arm draped across his chest. He had a moment of confusion until he remember that he wasn’t still dreaming, Steve and he really _had_ fucked like bunnies the night before.

“Hey, Steve,” he murmured, giving the blond a quick kiss. “Time to get up.”

Steve grumbled and withdrew his arm, which Sam found quite disappointing, but was soon sitting up and blinking blearily into the sunlight. “What’s it?” Steve mumbled, making Sam smile fondly.

“What’re we going to do about looking for Bucky?” he asked. “We haven’t really seen anything that points to him being anywhere near here.”

Steve frowned, still a little sleep blurry. Sam tried hard not to find it entirely adorable and failed. “I’m beginning to think this was all a setup.”

“A setup?”

“Natasha,” Steve sighed. There was a moment of silence, then they both dissolved into laughter.

“She’ll probably be waiting with Bucky when we get back,” Sam said between bouts of laughter. “Patting herself on the back for getting us together _and_ completing the mission for us.”

They spent awhile longer in bed, but the pull of home was too strong, so it didn’t take them long to grab a bite of breakfast, pack up, and head through the retreat to the office. The other couples looked at them strangely for carrying their suitcases instead of heading to morning therapy, but they ignored the confused glances and gave vague answers to those who approached them.

Mrs. Briggs was sitting at her desk when they came in, looking just as confused as the other retreat couples when she noticed their bags. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“We’d like to check out.”

“But you’ve only been here barely two days!” she said, obviously shocked. “If there’s something more you need out of your stay, you only tell me and I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Oh no,” Steve said, giving her his blindingly happy smile, “it’s nothing like that. We’ve just… worked out our problems.”

Sam gave him a sideways glance, trying hard not to laugh. They really had worked out their problems, at least their relationship problems, just not in the way that was expected from the retreat.

“Oh,” Mrs. Briggs said, sounding a little lost. She shook her head, quickly pulling herself together to give them a smile. “Well I’m very glad about that! Let me get your checkout paperwork together.”

“Thanks,” Sam said, reaching over to grab Steve’s hand. “I think we’d both really like to get home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, come chat with me [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/) or maybe [buy me a coffee](http://ko-fi.com/A7274PC).


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